Monday, June 1, 2009
Legislature Women as Special Interest Group
Posted by Betsy Phillips on Mon, Jun 1, 2009 at 8:04 PM
1. The Democrats love Ty Cobb.
2. If the Spring Hill plant closes, Ty Cobb's district is looking at 30% unemployment.
3. The Democrats feel certain that, if they don't win in 2010, they won't win again for twenty years, so they are formulating a plan.
Gentlemen, please feel free to go on about your lives.
Ladies, please join me after the break.
Next year the Democrats are considering putting forth a bill guaranteeing equal pay for women. I asked Mike Turner how he thought he could get progressive women to give a rat's ass about supporting his bills after how he did us with SJR 127.
And then he proceeded to lecture us about how women's groups don't show up to support anything but abortion bills. Do we see domestic violence folks show up when he's putting forth domestic violence bills? Did groups show up when the Democrats saved the funding to Planned Parenthood? Did we write about it? Etc. Etc. Etc.
Basically, we were chastised for not behaving like a proper special interest group.
Which, of course, we are not. We are, instead, half the population, and a hugely diverse bunch. And we live in a state where supporting women's issues publicly leads people to be ridiculed and harrassed.
So, even if we were all in agreement, which we are not, not even as progressive women, showing up and playing the game the way all the good ole boys do has very different consequences for us.
It's small wonder, then, that most women don't bother to play the game.
Here's the thing. When women have jobs and kids, it is very, very difficult for us to get to the Hill, which seems to be what you have to do to get the legislators to take your issues seriously--you have to lobby them. And when we do support you otherwise--by meeting about what you're doing (which we did about the Planned Parenthood funding, because I was at one such meeting) and writing about it (which folks did, and I was one such person), it's invisible work. It doesn't count, because it's not the right kind.
So, I don't know. It seems like an unsolveable problem. If your real life keeps you from making your life real to the people who need to see you as a real person, what can you do?
Comments (12)
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I agree that Turner is suggesting that women in Tennessee aren't acting like a proper special interest group (in his eyes) and that's bass ackward, given the relative number of women and men in Tennessee.
But as I've said elsewhere, I'll repeat here: Mike Turner and anyone else who tries to hide behind this line is speaking in feigned ignorance of the Nashville Womens' Political Caucus, and other groups, that clearly have more than abortion on the mind. These are folks who lobby on behalf of women and children and families in Tennessee, and it's wrong to ignore their efforts and more wrong to pretend they don't exist.
Even beyond those wrongs, it's cowardly in the extreme to suggest that because a legislator wasn't lobbied by the 'interested' groups, he was under no obligation to consider whether his vote was in the interest of half the population of Tennessee. I understand that our legislators are part-time, under-staffed, and heavily dependent on lobbyists. However, this and other "womens'" issues are clearly part of the ongoing public debate and it's equally clear that considering the interests of women in Tennessee is somewhat less opaque than considering the interests of a small number of gun-owners. So I really don't care who you heard from, Rep. Turner. I want to know why you threw half the population of Tennessee under the bus.
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So let me get this straight: if women show up to lobby Mike Turner about abortion and birth control, it's meaningless because it's just "women's groups" and we all know how THEY feel about these issue. So they can be ignored.
But if Mike Turner has an issue he thinks women should care about, then by God we're all supposed to fall into line and say thank you thank you thank you. Why do I feel like Lucy Ricardo when Ricky just increased her allowance so she could buy a new hat?
Rep. Turner doesn't get it. Women show up to lobby about abortion and birth control because THEY REALLY CARE ABOUT THOSE ISSUES. And fat lot of good it's done. Thanks for not listening, Rep. Turner, and pushing the issues you think we should care about.
Maybe the voters should replace Rep. Turner with someone a little more sensitive.
I think the solution to this is to just put more women in the legislature. If there was ever a moment that made clear why that is necessary, this is it.
The Nashville Women's Political Caucus is a bi-partisan organization that employs a lobbyist to help protect the interests of all women in Tennessee. If you are interested in joining go to our website:
http://www.nashvillewpc.com/
Here's the problem as I see it for Democrats. Republicans have elected and promoted women. And right now the only thing that keeps most women in this state voting Democrat is the belief that Democrats are better on women's issues.
But two important things have happened. One, thanks to SJR 127, women now know that both parties could give a shit about abortion. And, closely tied into that, because Republican women have now established themselves as un-feminist, they're clearly testing the waters of passing some woman-friendly legislation.
Granted, in order to peel away women voters, they will have to convince their more openly misogynist, crazy members to shape up (and that often includes themselves).
But here's the question Democrats have to answer--do they think they're going to get their acts together before the Republican women figure out how to advance legislation friendly to women voters?
This is a hell of a game of chicken and I'm not sure the Democrats even get that they're playing it.
Because if both parties are going to be indistinguishable when it comes to the big issues, there's room for the Republicans to pick up some middle of the road women voters. And that scares the shit out of me.
I'm not sure if I made my middle point clearly there, but what I'm trying to say is that the issue for Republican women has been that they have to play the game like Republican men lest they be accused of been feminist, which is clearly the kiss of death among conservative women.
Well, now they've clearly established that they're not feminist.
So, they've created a little space for advancing women-friendly legislation. If it works, expect to see more of it. And if you see more of it, expect to see more women voting Republican.
Let's also not forget that Democrats ran the most progressive woman member out of the General Assembly, Senator Rosalind Kurita. The two Democrats that led that ouster, Jim Kyle and Roy Herron, are now running for governor.
Things aren't going to change for Tennessee Democrats if we keep voting for the same old same old.
I also just wanted to add that, though I am pissed at Mike Turner, I don't think that voting him out of office is any good solution.
1. He's an excellent politician and, even though he seemed to fail to notice it, I and every other women watching, cheered when he out maneuvered the Republicans on that stupid Planned Parenthood funding bill.
2. I am never going to advocate removing a person from office who makes minced meat of Stacey Campfield as often and as well as Mike Turner does. In that regard, he is my personal hero.
3. It is true that, if the Democrats don't win in 2010, the Democrats are screwed. Turner gets that.
But most importantly, 4., no, that's the way it always is with shit that comes to women. "Oh, well, let's just wait and see if we can't get someone better in there some time in the future." Let me be clear--fuck that shit.
I want Turner to get his head out of his ass when it comes to women. Right now.
I know he can do it, because he's a smart, astute guy. And I expect him to get his act together and do so.
I refuse to sit here and be all "Oh, well, that's just how some men are. We'll just try to find someone better at some point off in the future."
No, Turner's a damn good politician and a damn good representative for his district and HE CAN GET HIS HEAD OUT OF HIS ASS ON THIS. Starting today.
I'm not saying we should go after Turner per se. He's relatively new to the legislature's power structure.
I am saying that we should take a hard look at those Democrats that have been in charge of the legislature for years and evaluate what they have done. At least two from the Senate power structure are running for governor. When Kyle and Herron ask for our vote, we should remember what they did to the most progressive woman in the Senate. Why did they do it? Because Kurita voted against John Wilder. What did Wilder ever do for women? SJR127 routinely passed the Senate. In terms of how the Senate treats women, there's no substantive difference between Wilder and Ramsey. The same old bad bills pass under Ramsey that passed under Wilder.
We should also remember that Jimmy Naifeh fought these bad bills off for years. Every woman in this state should tell him thank you.
When Tennessee Democrats decide to act like an opposition party that cares about its constituents, as opposed to acting like Republicans with a different set of friends to ship state contracts to, maybe they'll find themselves retaking legislature.
When Tennessee Democrats decide to act like an opposition party that cares about its constituents, as opposed to acting like Republicans with a different set of friends to ship state contracts to, maybe they'll find themselves retaking legislature.
**APPLAUSE**APPLAUSE**APPLAUSE**APPLAUSE**
I'll say again that it won't get us anywhere if we kick the same good ol' boy Democrats up the ladder and give them even more power. We should support progressives at all levels and try to put as many of them in office as possible. That's how we'll bring about change.
When was the last time the Tennessee Democratic Party gave us a candidate from outside of the insider circles? I've never seen a political party as incestuous as TnDP.
